Kevin Elmarr will remain in prison as case proceeds

LONGMONT -- The Colorado Court of Appeals on Thursday overturned a Longmont man's 2009 conviction in the 1987 murder of his ex-wife, Carol Murphy.

The court ruled that now-retired Boulder District Judge James C. Klein erred by disallowing evidence at Kevin Elmarr's trial that pointed to two other suspects, said Boulder County District Attorney Stan Garnett.

Garnett said it is now up to his office to review the court's decision and either appeal it to the Colorado Supreme Court or prepare to retry the case. His office has 45 days to decide whether to ask the Supreme Court to review the lower court's ruling."It is a murder case so, of course, it is a top priority," Garnett said.

Stan Garnett

A jury convicted Elmarr in August 2009 of the first-degree murder of his ex-wife, Carol Murphy, in 1987.

Hikers found Murphy's nude body facedown near a trail in Left Hand Canyon on May 23, 1987. She had been strangled and her throat cut.

Elmarr was a suspect at the time of her death, but he was not arrested until January 2007 when a re-examination of evidence revealed his DNA in samples taken from her body. Prosecutors argued that a tumultuous divorce and ongoing legal entanglements over the couple's two children motivated him to kill Murphy.

In the years between Murphy's murder and Elmarr's arrest, Elmarr worked as a volunteer rescuer with the Longmont Emergency Unit, often working alongside Boulder County Sheriff's investigators who suspected him of killing Murphy.

Witnesses testified that Murphy and Elmarr planned an outing to the mountains on May 22, 1987, the day before her body was found. Some said they saw the couple leave together on his motorcycle, and other witnesses said the motorcycle was parked near the place Murphy's body was found.

However, defense witnesses told jurors that they saw or heard from Murphy on the evening of May 22, hours after investigators and prosecutors believe she was killed. Defense witnesses also testified about Murphy's sex life and liaisons with multiple partners, specifically presenting one of her lovers as an alternative suspect.

Kevin Elmarr speaks to his lawyers during opening statements in his trial on Wednesday at the Boulder County Courthouse in Boulder Colorado on July 21, 2009 . The Colorado Court of Appeals has overturned the conviction of a Longmont man who was found guilty of brutally killing his ex-wife and dumping her body in Lefthand Canyon in 1987.
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